Trend estimates: Short-term visitor arrivals during May 2017 (734,900 movements) increased 0.8% compared with April 2017 (729,300 movements). This followed monthly increases of 0.8% in March 2017 and April 2017. The current trend estimate for arrivals is 7.7% higher than in May 2016.

Seasonally adjusted estimates: During May 2017, short-term visitor arrivals (734,300 movements) decreased 1.9% compared with April 2017 (748,400 movements). This followed a monthly decrease of 0.5% in March 2017 followed by a monthly increase of 5.1% in April 2017.

Original estimates: There were 579,100 short-term visitor arrivals to Australia in May 2017.

SHORT-TERM RESIDENT DEPARTURES FROM AUSTRALIA

Trend estimates: Short-term resident departures during May 2017 (850,800 movements) increased 0.8% compared with April 2017 (844,000 movements). This followed monthly increases of 0.5% in March and 0.6% in April 2017. The current trend estimate for departures is 3.7% higher than in May 2016.

Seasonally adjusted estimates: During May 2017, short-term resident departures (867,100 movements) increased 1.8% compared with April 2017 (851,700 movements). This followed a monthly decrease of 2.9% in March 2017 and a monthly increase of 5.2% in April 2017.

Original estimates: There were 809,000 short-term resident departures from Australia in May 2017.

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE

Release Date

June 2017

15 August 2017

July 2017

12 September 2017

August 2017

16 October 2017

September 2017

15 November 2017

October 2017

14 December 2017

November 2017

19 January 2018

DATA NOTES

This release contains overseas movement data which should not be interpreted as 'persons'. See paragraph 7 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail.

The statistics in this release have been rounded. See paragraph 34 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail.

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has rolled out new technologies to streamline and strengthen border operations. Departure SmartGates are currently in use at all international airports in Australia for processing passengers leaving the country. Passengers using Departure SmartGates are required to place their outgoing passenger card in drop boxes located near the Departure SmartGate rather than handing them to Australian Border Force officers.

Coinciding with the roll-out of Departure SmartGates, there has been an increase in outgoing passenger cards not being collected due to passengers failing to place their cards into the drop boxes. The ABS and DIBP are working together to mitigate this issue and to minimise the impact on data quality.

For May 2017, the ABS added 235,965 records to account for missing outgoing passenger cards. The ABS also added 119 records to account for a higher level of missing incoming passenger cards. A total of 236,084 missing records were added to the overseas arrivals and departures data for May 2017. For further information, seeSection 7 of the Data Quality Issues (Appendix 2) in the left hand side navigation bar under the Explanatory Notes tab.

UPCOMING CHANGES

Please note that changes to the format of Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0) are planned for the 12 September 2017 release.

Where do I look for more information?

Information about the upcoming changes will be regularly updated in the Notes Section of each Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0) issue until the new format is released.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070. The ABS Privacy Policy outlines how the ABS will handle any personal information that you provide to the ABS.